Glenn used to tell me, you got
to get ahead of Marvin first or he'll get you. And Pat will
get me first. Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Luke, Luke chapter 9. My heart was
drawn to this passage and the passage that goes right into
chapter 10, which Lord willing, I'll try to preach out of in
the second service. But Luke chapter 9, and I'd like
to look at the last few verses of Luke chapter 9. And I've entitled
this message, The Peril of Looking Back. The Peril of Looking Back. The Lord crossed the paths of
three men in this passage of scripture. And from the brief
conversation that he had with each of these men, the Spirit
of God has been pleased to teach us something concerning the person
of our Savior. And secondly, our need of instruction
concerning the relationship of men toward him. And may the Spirit
of God give us some understanding because only he can. I'll just
read the passage and then we'll look at the verses for just a
moment. Verse 57, Luke 9, 57. And it came to pass that as they
went into the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will
follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him,
Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son
of Man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another,
Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me
first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, let the
dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of
God. And another also said, Lord,
I will follow thee. Let me first go bid them farewell,
which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, no man,
having put his hand to the plow, and looking back is fit for the
kingdom of God. Now, we have at first, we have
a man making a very bold statement to the Lord. Verse 57, and this
is what he said. Lord, I will follow thee whethersoever
thou goest. Now there's a message, a passage,
rather, in the book of Matthew. Turn back, hold your place here,
and turn back to Matthew 8, 19. Matthew 8, 19. And in this passage
of scripture, the scripture declares, Matthew 8, 19, and a certain scribe came and
said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou
goest. And Jesus saith unto him, the foxes have holes, the birds
of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to
lay his head. Now, I want you to notice back
in Luke, where we were, that there was no record that the
Lord ever summoned this first man But I'm gonna say that very
possibly he heard the truth before. So I'm not gonna make an assumption
to his state, spiritual state, before the Lord. But rather,
I'm going to take exactly what our Lord said. I'm gonna take
what the Lord instructed this man. I mean, I can sit here and
say, well, no record that the Lord ever called him. I don't
know that. Doesn't say here that he did.
But I do know what the Lord said to him. And there I'm going to
make my comments based upon the Lord's response. The man's statement
of commitment, obviously. Now again, hear what I'm saying. Based on the Lord's response
to him, this man's commitment was founded upon what the Lord
first knew to be so. because he knew the heart. He
knows all men. This man's desire was that obviously
his obedience to Christ would be filled with prosperity, the
good of this world, the ease of life. And it's not improbable
that the man obviously must have seen something of the miracles
of our Lord, he formed an expectation that by following him, he would
obtain some considerable worldly advantage. And I thought about
what we hear today, priest, in so many places, this message
of prosperity, health and wealth, ease, you sow your seed. seed
faith or face seed or whatever the hell they say it, I don't
really know. And God will bless you. It'll come back a hundred
fold. But according to the Lord's answer, and again, that's where
we can find some help here. Based on the Lord's answer to
this man's statement, we find something of this man's intention. That's how we know what this
man was thinking. Listen to what the Lord said.
Form our conclusions on the scriptures and not on assumption. Don't
assume anything. If you can't back it up with
the scripture, be quiet. Based on what the Lord
said, this is what the man was thinking, verse 58. And Jesus
said unto him, foxes have holes, Birds of the air have nest, but
the son of man hath not where to lay his head. This man's promise
of faithfulness had an honorable sound to it. It sounded good.
Lord, I will follow you, whether so ever you go. Lord told him,
in essence, Don't expect this to be easy. Don't expect this
to be a life of ease and pleasure without trial and tribulation. Fox has got a hole to crawl into.
Bird's got a nest to go to. But the son of man has no place
to lay his head. Man by nature is anxious and
quick, hasty to assume that following Christ based on the lies that
they hear. It's gonna be a life of easiness. Hold your place and turn back
to Genesis 3, 5. What did Satan promise Eve? What was the promise of Satan
to Eve? Genesis 3, 5. For God doth know
that in the day you eat thereof, Now listen, here's his deceptive
promise. Then your eyes will be opened.
You shall be as God's, knowing good and evil. God doesn't want you to eat that
fruit because he knows that in the day you eat of it, you're
going to be like him. You'll know. This world is filled with those
that promise the world to those that follow Christ. But it's
not the world that God's people desire. I am thankful. I'm thankful I've
got some clothes to put on. I'm thankful I drove over here
in a car. I'm thankful that I've got a house to be in. A lot of people don't. But I'm
gonna tell you something, these things are temporal. Because
God's blessed us with these things, we're not to seek after them.
Be thankful for them. God forbid that we should fail
to be thankful for them. But we look unto Him as helpless
sheep. We follow Him as He has declared
Himself to be in this world. It's not that that spirit of
self-confidence It's completely erased from us. We still struggle
with that body of death. You know, this man said, you
know, Lord, I will follow you. Say, well, after a believer is
called out of darkness, he never thinks like that again. Hold your place right there and
just turn back to Matthew 26. Matthew 26. Matthew 26, verse 31 to 35. 26, 31, then says Jesus unto
them, all you shall be offended because of me this night, for
it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the
flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I
will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said unto
him, though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet
will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily,
I say unto thee, that this night before the cock crow, thou shalt
deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, though I
should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also
said all the disciples. My friend, this spirit of presumption
and assurance, so-called assurance of faithfulness, you say, well,
after the Lord calls His people out, they don't ever doubt again
or they don't say that. Don't kid yourself. The Lord said, I am the vine and you are the
branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me you
can do nothing. You can do nothing. I can be
faithful, you can do nothing. It's not that the Lord's people
doubt that they will persevere. because they will persevere. But they persevere not according
to their own will and ability. They know, they know. This man
was taught something and we're reminded of it again. We're taught
again. I will follow thee whithersoever
thou goest. The foxes, the birds, but the
Son of Man. Jude 1.1 says, Jude, the servant
of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified
by God the Father and preserved in Christ Jesus and called. The believer's attitude is one
such as this. Jeremiah 31.18, earn thou me
and I shall be turned. Hear from this answer of the
Lord to this one that promised him. Lord, I will follow you. I will follow you. From that
answer right there, we learn that unless the Lord keeps us,
we're reminded, unless he keeps us, we will not be kept. Count the cost. I'll follow you. Count the cost. I will follow
you. The Lord has promised that those
that follow Him must be found willing to lay down anything. Anything. Even our very lives. Foxes has got a hole, birds has
got a nest, but for us, let nothing take a priority over following
Him. Exodus 20 verse 3, thou shalt
have no other gods before me. I'll follow you. You have promise of nothing.
Nothing in this world is a glorious blessing found in being In Christ,
we have called out of darkness, we've got deliverance from sin,
unbelief, deliverance from the penalty of the law, given eternal
life in Christ, but learn this, that a man and a woman is promised
nothing but trials and tribulations in this world, and a trial and
a tribulation that's going to war against your flesh, a sacrifice,
It's seen by a believer, though, to be a sacrifice of that which
was but rubbish. How much is a man, a woman willing
in this world to give up, to follow him? I tell you what a
believer will do. He'll give it up all. He'll give
all of it. Hold your place. Turn to Philippians 3, 8. This
is the Lord's promise. the apostle who was Saul of Tarsus,
of all these things that he had that he thought in this world
was everything to him, circumcised on the right day. Mom and daddy
were both Hebrews. I was born in the right tribe. I was concerning the law. I was blameless. You couldn't
find anything that I'd done wrong. Here's what he said, verse eight.
Yea, doubtless I count all these but loss. for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I've suffered
the loss of all things. And do count them done, that I may win Christ found in
Him. These animals has got a place
to go. The Lord said, I don't have a place to lay my head.
You'll follow me whithersoever I go. Back in Luke 9, 59 and 60, he said unto
another, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer, oh,
these next two words, me first. Me first. Suffer me first. Go and bury my father. Jesus
saith unto him, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou
and preach the kingdom of God. Now here was a man that we know
was called of God. The first one, I don't know.
I don't know. So I don't make no comment on what he do. But I know this man right here
was called of God to follow the Lord. And this man being called of
God was obviously found to have a heart for obedience. Now the
way he said it, suffer me first, that was a grave mistake to say
that. And the Lord corrected him on
it. We'll look at it in a second. But I know this, when God calls
a man or a woman, right? I know, I know, I know. Do they follow? Well, let's see
what the Lord says about it. Let's see when God calls somebody,
let's see if they follow. John 10, 27. Those known of God, called of
God, elected of God, chosen of God, chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world, my sheep hear my voice. I've said before, I've never
heard the voice of the master with this ear. I've never heard
it, but I've heard it in you that know him have to. You can't
explain that to somebody, but you know it's so. My sheep hear
my voice, I know them, and they follow me. Neil, they follow. They're gonna follow. Hold your
place in Luke. Turn back to Matthew 4. Matthew
4. Matthew 4, 18 to 22. Matthew 4, 18, and Jesus walking
by the Sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon called Peter
and drew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they
were fishers. And he said unto him, Follow
me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway
left their nets and followed him. Going on from thence, he saw
two other brethren, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his
brother, in a ship with Zebedee, his father, their father, mending
their nets. Now these two right here, they're
sitting over there fishing with their daddy. And he called them. And they
immediately left the ship, now listen to this, and their father. Followed him. Turn over to Matthew
9, 9. Matthew 9, 9. And as Jesus passed
forth from thence, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the
receipt of custom. And he saith unto him, follow
me. And he arose and followed him. He followed him. I can find in no scripture where
the Lord affectionately called and there was no response. My
sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. With the call, the power of God,
and therefore the willingness to obey is there. God's people
follow Christ. They follow Him. They follow
Him. The Lord called this second man,
and this man was willing to go. But it appears as though that
he had a desire for a deferment, a hesitation. because of what he thought was
a more pressing issue, care of a parent. Either his
father had recently died or he was older and he needed special
care because of his situation, but whatever the situation, the
man requested leave of God's calling to be responsible to
his parent. Doesn't the scripture say, honor
your father and your mother? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. God's people
do. They do. But not at the expense of following
Christ. Those truly called of God from
this man's response, they still being found obedient. They're
obedient. I know they are because the Lord
said they are. And so that's not even up for
debate. Do they follow Christ? Yes, they follow Christ. The
Lord said they do. But do they still struggle with
that old man within? Is there still war with them? Do they find that battle going
on, the lust, the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit
against the flesh? There's a heart there to obey.
And that's what they want to do. But oh, that old man, that
old resistance is still there. The one called said this, suffer
me first, me first. But from the Lord's answer, we
learn this. His call is first. His call is
first. Seek ye the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all of this here, whatever
we need, it'll be added unto you, don't worry. But don't let
anything take a precedent over Him. Nothing, nothing. This man was called, according
to the Lord's words here, This man was called to preach the
gospel. I realize he's primarily talking about preaching the gospel.
But all of God's people are called to faithfulness to the preaching
and the hearing of it. Let me first go and let me take
care of my daddy. Let me bury my daddy. I don't
know if daddy, again, I don't know if he just died or if he
was old and he was, let me take care to make sure that he's okay
before I follow you. And the Lord said, you let the
dead bury the dead. You follow me and you preach
the kingdom of God. What's the calling? God calls
a man to preach That's what you're gonna do. If you cause any of
us, you hear the gospel, hear the truth. This man was called
to preach a message to hell-deserving sinners, and nothing is more
important than that, nothing. All of this junk that we're dealing
with, I got junk that I have been collecting over the last
70 plus years. Now I'm trying to figure out
how to get rid of it. I don't need this stuff. I got
junk on top of junk. The only thing that ever mattered
was what you think of Christ. You preach the gospel. Preach
Him. The Lord has called us by grace.
We're directed by Him to follow Him and He will He will provide. He will provide. You let the
dead bury the dead. You mean even for the care of
those that we love? You follow me. You follow me. Follow him. This is the heart
of a believer that still struggles with the flesh. Oh, learn here. Don't let the things of this
world take a precedent. Whatever you do, no matter how
needful or desirable they may appear to be, guard against anything
that would be a hindrance to our devotion to the Lord Jesus
Christ. We are His bond slaves. We've
been bought with a price. We're servants of the Most High
God. Can you imagine a servant being
bought and paid for You know, and his master said, I want you
to go do, I'll get over, I got something
over here, I'll tell you. No, sir. No, sir. The Lord will
provide all of our need according to his richest glory. But then
lastly, back in Luke nine, verse 61, 62 and another, also said
in him, Lord, I will follow thee, Let me first go bid them farewell,
which are at home at my house. And again, I don't even want
to try to make an assumption on this man's state. Doesn't
say that he was called either, but again, I'll leave that to
others that know more than I do. But I can tell you what the Lord
said to him. Based on what the Lord said to
him, here's a man that obviously The Lord beheld. He knew. He knew this man. He knows all
men. And the Lord gave a dire warning
to this man. Whatever his state was, that's
in the Lord's hands. But I can tell you what the Lord
told this man and told all of us right here. No man. No man. having put his hand to the plow,
and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Obviously
the Lord beheld something in this man that only the Lord knew. Something that we need to hear
though, is I can tell you based on the Lord's wording, I can
tell you what the sense of what he said was, Here's a sense of
it. He that shall endure to the end,
the same shall be saved. No man having put his hand to
the plow. I remember when I was a kid there in Louisiana, we
had a little old farm out in the middle of nowhere, and my
dad was gonna teach me how to plow. I never did have to plow
behind mules. It was a little bit later than
that, but I did have a tractor. And when I'd go out and I was
going to plow, he set the plow up and he said, now this is how
you're going to plow. He said, when you start going,
you set your eyes on something. I'm looking at that back window
right there. I'm looking at a telephone pole. He said, you pick out something
out there and you go straight to it. and don't deviate, don't
get distracted with something else. You look at what you're
looking at and go straight to it and the furrows will be straight. You say, well, that's pretty
simple. Well, I needed to hear it because I know me. Believe me, I can get distracted.
I can tell you, I mean, things distract me and they do you too.
Concerning the gospel, when he said, put your hands to the plow,
it's the declaration, Fred, of the gospel. That's what he's
talking about. No man having put hand to it. I will follow you. I'll follow
you. With us or wherever you go. No man having put his hand to
the plow. And looking back. Here's what
I want to know in closing. What does it mean to look back? Well, I know this, you turn over,
hold your place, turn to Hebrews 4, I'm gonna show you something.
I know this, it's not talking about the weakness that we suffer
because of our eyes beholding something that would tempt us.
No man looking back. I know that. I mean, we behold
things in this world that tempt us. Hebrews 4, Hebrews chapter
4 and verse 15 says this, concerning even our Lord. Hebrews 4, 15. For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are. yet without sin. I know that to look, I mean,
I look at stuff and before I even know, Kevin, I'm looking at it.
There it is, I tell you. Man, I wish I wouldn't have looked
at that. Well, it's too late. You already
looked at it. So I know that looking at something
and being tempted by it, our Lord was tempted by it. I know
that's not what it means. I know that it's not even when
a man is is found to fall into grave error and sin, as David
was. David, the scripture says, he
was out on his porch one night and he looked and he saw a woman
bathing. Took her. Took her. Took her, had relations with
her. That is, her husband killed. By the grace of God, the Lord
delivered him, sent a prophet, told him, Lord have mercy on
him. Spirit of God moved David to
write Psalm 51. Have mercy. Have mercy, have
mercy on me, oh God. Have mercy according to your
loving kindness. Blot out my transgressions. Against thee
and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight.
So I know, I know looking back is not to be found to have fallen
into grave error and sin and be recovered. Remember the prodigal. But the words looking back, I've
looked these words up. It means to gaze at with respect
to. That's what they mean. And this
truth was vitally set forth when Lot and his family were drawn
out of Sodom. Your place there, I'm wrapping
this up. Genesis 19. Genesis 19. Genesis chapter 19. I'll read
verse 17. I'll read verse 17. Genesis 19, verse 17. came to pass when they had brought
them forth. This is the angels taking Lot
and his family out. He said to them, escape for thy
life and look not behind thee. Neither stay thou in all the
plain. Escape to the mountain lest thou be consumed. Look at
verse 23. The sun was risen upon the earth
when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom
and upon Gomorrah, brimstone, fire from the Lord out of heaven.
He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants
of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his
wife looked back from behind her, behind him. She became a
pillar of salt. What happened? She looked at
and gazed upon with respect. And Sodom, her heart was still
in Sodom. Looking back is when one who
has professed, put their hand to the plow of the gospel, professed
to be one found faithful, eventually finds the things of God to possess
no beauty anymore. John chapter six, John six. Verse 63, it's the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. The words I speak unto you, their
spirit and their life, that there are some of you that believe
not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that
believed not and who should betray him. And he said unto them, therefore,
said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were
given unto him of my father. From that time, many of his disciples
went back. Okay, now here's the heart of
looking back. And walked no more with him. No more. That's the heart of
looking back. It's not to be tempted. not even
to be found to fall in sin. I can show you scriptures like
we just looked at, David. It's not that God's people are
frail creatures, but they're kept by the power of God. But
I can tell you this, those that look back and follow
him no more, it's not fit. Know what that means? They have
not been well placed. They have, that's what it means.
They're not fit, well-placed. But let me tell you what the
most fearful thing of all about this is. And if you think this
won't take the air out of your sails, and this really is, I'll
stop right here. That heart of saying, I'm going
back, they followed him no more. Let me tell you what's fearful
about that. Lest we think, bless God, that'll never happen to
me. I'll never, you'll never find me making a statement like
that. I won't follow him anymore. John
21, John 21. This was after the Lord was crucified. John 21, Simon Peter saith unto
them, I go of fishing. They say unto him, we also go
with thee. They went forth and entered into
a boat immediately. That night they caught nothing. You say, well, he was just going
to fish. I looked it up again, Neil, just to make sure. Here's
what I mean. When he says, I go, look this
up, look it up. To withdraw oneself, to go away,
to depart. You know what Peter said? I quit. I quit. Jeremiah said basically the same
thing. I'm not gonna preach anymore
in his name. But his word was like fire in
my bones. I couldn't quit. because we're kept by the power
of God through faith, ready to be revealed in the last time.
My friend, don't ever think you're so strong, you're so stable,
you're so well grounded, you won't find me doing that. You'll
not find me trying to withdraw or wanting to quit or wanting
to go back. You go back. If you go back,
if you can, you will. But if he keeps you, you won't.
And therein we find comfort. Lord, keep me, keep this frail
creature of dust for your glory and my eternal good. Amen. All right, let's take a break.